Archives

Written in October 2010

10/29/10
This is truly sickening. Maricopa County's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio just sent this shocking message to his followers: "STOP ILLEGALS FROM STEALING THE ELECTION! Our grassroots army of VOTER FRAUD PREVENTION VOLUNTEERS will stand vigilant across the nation. We will be the first and strongest line of defense to ensure that only legal citizens vote on November 2nd."
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10/29/10
Today's Los Angeles Times reports: "Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman has reignited a controversy that roiled her campaign for weeks, saying the undocumented housekeeper she employed for nine years should be deported....The deportation remark represents the kind of hard-line stance that Whitman sought to avoid for most of the campaign." So much for Meg Whitman being a new kind of Republican on immigration. So much for Meg Whitman being the next governor of California.
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10/29/10
The 2010 mid-term campaign season is shaping up to be one of the most vicious and vitriolic in recent memory -- especially when it comes to the issue of immigration. Distortions, lies, and stereotypes have dominated the airwaves when it comes to immigration, and Latino Americans in this nation. From threats of violence against immigrants to calls for mass deportation, candidates across the country are unleashing a torrent of extreme speech that is both alarming and un-American.
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10/29/10
Curious if Sharron Angle's race-baiting campaign, which has upped the ante on demonizing Latinos and immigrants (see images at right) and has become the focus of major Latino voter mobilization efforts are contributing to the new "Democratic early voter surge" being reported in Nevada.
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10/29/10
A new investigative journalism report from National Public Radio adds a shocking element to the already-disturbing story of Arizona's controversial "papers please" immigration law. It turns out the only ones truly profiting from SB 1070 are a vast network of prison contracting companies and the politicians they fund, whose concern for their bottom line and political careers trumps the U.S. Constitution as well as the economy and reputation of their state.
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10/29/10
Tennessee advocates have come forward to argue that immigrants' rights were violated in a police-ICE raid last week. ICE says the raid was a police collaboration to root out criminal gang activity in a Nashville apartment complex, but local advocates say that innocent residents were treated like criminals. The allegations disturbing, to say the least.
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10/29/10
Here's the harsh truth about our immigration system: When 392,000 immigrants are detained per year and 33,000 more are detained every day with limited staff and minimal federal oversight, institutional misconduct is inevitable. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving record-breaking numbers of immigrants through its ancillary agencies and, in the process, immigrant women are being raped by Border Patrol agents, LGBT detainees are being sexually assaulted at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, and citizens and legal residents are certainly being deported.
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10/28/10
"Angle and her campaign's ad team will go down in history for running a dirty campaign that seeks to demonize hard-working Latino immigrants as criminals and thugs," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, in a statement to The Huffington Post. "With Politifact labeling her claims as false, what we have is racial divisiveness on top of outright lies. This series of ads would make Lee Atwatter roll over in his grave. It makes the Jesse Helms 'Hands' ad look tame."
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10/28/10
The purpose of our series "March to the Polls 2010" is to capture the attitude of Hispanic voters in key states. Two years ago, they voted at record levels, but in the last two years they have been battered along with the rest of the country by an economy in crisis. They have suffered higher unemployment rates than the rest of the country. And the promise of immigration reform that would help their families and friends—a promise that was central in motivating many of them to vote in 2008—has yet to materialize.
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10/27/10
Watch Gabe Gonzalez from the Campaign for Community Change call out Sharron Angle on her most recent racist ads in her bid for Nevada's Senate seat. Last night, Gonzalez joined Keith Olbermann to discuss the blatantly anti-Latino ads Sharron Angle's camp released this week.
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10/26/10
We're running out of ways to describe Sharron Angle's predictably race-baiting immigration ads, but this latest one entitled "The Wave" (screenshots at right) might just take the cake. Not to mention that, despite Angle's absurd claim last week that her ads weren't about the southern border, there's a shot of a border patrol station clearly labeled "El Paso, Texas."
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10/26/10
America's Voice, Campaign for Community Change, and Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign are responding to Republican obstructionism of immigration reform in Congress, enactment of the anti-Latino "papers, please" law in Arizona, and ugly anti-immigrant campaigning by GOP candidates across the nation, with a saturation-level ad buy on Spanish radio in Nevada and Colorado the week before the elections
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10/26/10
Illinois' Senate race is one of the closest in the nation, and Latino voters could make the difference. The video will be distributed to over 50,000 online activists and youth, immigrant and Latino networks Today, America's Voice and Illinois Immigrant Action have teamed up to release a humorous new online video to encourage young Latinos in the state to vote in the toss-up US Senate election on November 2nd. Latino voters could make the difference in this too-close-to-call race. The video will be distributed to a wide range of online activists and youth, immigrant and Latino networks around the state.
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10/25/10
Immigration remains a hot issue in a number of high-profile gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House races, and Latino voters are poised to play a decisive role in choosing winners and losers.
Recently, there has been a proliferation of outrageous candidate attack ads and anti-immigrant statements directed at Latinos, as well as efforts by third-party groups to suppress the Latino vote.
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10/22/10
If you thought Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, was controversial, keep reading.
Republican State Legislator (FL), William Snyder (pictured at right, to the left), has proposed a new immigration bill for his state, modeled after the infamous Arizona law that has people all over the country in a tizzy over the fact that the law encourages racial profiling.
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10/21/10
The Center for American Progress Action Fund released a report today entitled, "Too Many to Ignore: The Latino Vote in 2010 and Beyond," accompanied by a panel discussion on the recent history and increasing role of Latino voters. The report's key message:
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10/21/10
The DREAM Act will not be taken up before the midterm elections, but support for the popular measure continues to grow. Here are some DREAM happenings you might have missed.
Last week, Rosario Dawson explained why she's so passionate about the DREAM Act and why we all need to get out there and vote:
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10/21/10
A new report by the Detention Watch Network reveals that the "truly civil" detention system once promised by the administration has truly failed to materialize. And while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been crowing over its record number of deportations, it's suspiciously mum when it comes to the record number of detainees that still languish in woefully mismanaged detention facilities.
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10/20/10
The Republican-backed group Latinos for Reform was set to air Spanish-language ads proclaiming that the best way to send a political message is by not voting. But the combination of Angle's nasty attack ads on immigration and this latest voter suppression tactic may encourage voters.
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10/20/10
Building on race-baiting campaigns that demonize immigrants and deploy Spanish-language ads to suppress Latino turnout, many 2010 Republican candidates have embraced a disturbing new vision for U.S. immigration policy. The vision, touted recently by high-profile Republican Senate candidates Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Mark Kirk in Illinois, and Joe Miller in Alaska, would involve closing borders, walling off the U.S., and embracing the Iron Curtain as a model for our future.
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10/20/10
Huffington Post: "Giannoulias said unequivocally that he supports the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children and are pursuing higher education. He also said he believes the country needs comprehensive immigration reform and applauded Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for his work on the issue. Kirk touted himself as the "Spanish-speaking candidate" and pointed out that he went to school in Mexico. He said that the first step the United States needs to take is to "close down the border" and start "understanding" who is coming into the country. When asked how he would vote if the DREAM Act came up to a vote before all this is accomplished, he replied, "This is not the time to do that." Kirk has faced significant pressure from immigration activists on the DREAM Act."
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10/19/10
Among Latinos, interest in voting shoots up 10% in one month. A conservative group tries to suppress the growing Latino vote in Nevada, but Univision is refusing to run their ads. Joe Miller hearts East Germany's approach to border security. Even after stock photo snafu, Angle finds new ways to trip up with Nevada's Latino (Asian?) voters.
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10/18/10
We've reported on Angle's vicious attack ads, criticized for demonizing Latino immigrants both on TV and in mailers. Now, the Nevada Senate candidate is going on offense again, claiming these attacks have been "misinterpreted." The Hispanic Student Union at Rancho High School in Las Vegas invited Angle to meet with them to explain her approach. When confronted with a question regarding her campaign's tactic of race-baiting, Angle had this to say (via the Washington Post):
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10/18/10
At a town hall meeting in Anchorage yesterday, GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-AK) argued for an interesting approach to border security: harkening back to the good old days of…East Germany.
Alaska blog The Mudflats reports:
On Sunday, Joe Miller, candidate for US Senate, held a town hall meeting at a middle school in Anchorage. When asked about illegal immigration, Miller offered up: Build a wall! "If the East Germans could do it, so can we!"
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10/18/10
Last week, America's Voice en Español was in Denver talking to voters as part of the new series: March to the Polls 2010. In Colorado, the Latino vote could play a key role in several races, including that of Democrat Michael Bennett against the Republican candidate and Tea Party favorite, Ken Buck, for the United States Senate. The Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign is one of the organizations in Colorado that is seeking to mobilize the Latino Vote.
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